Women's Movement and attempts to organize the National Women's Council in Russia at the beginning of the XX century.

Borodina Elena Vasil'evna ORCID: 0000-0002-8128-5698 PhD in History Associate Professor of the Department of Russian History of the Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin 620075, Russia, Sverdlovskaya oblast', g. Ekaterinburg, ul. Turgeneva, 4, of. 480 sosnovi-bor@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Kus'kalo Yuliya Vladimirovna Graduate student of the Department of Russian History, Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin 620075, Russia, Sverdlovskaya oblast', g. Ekaterinburg, ul. Turgeneva, 4, of. 480 juliabauer17@mail.ru

To date, gender studies are one of the most popular areas. They are engaged in with varying degrees of activity both in Russia and abroad. Of particular interest to scientists is the study of women's history. Especially – the stories of critical periods of history associated with the struggle of women for their rights. In Russian history, such a period was the second half of the XIX – beginning of the XX century, associated with the beginning of the emancipation of women, their aspirations to obtain political rights, to have higher education and a profession.

Despite the fact that the appearance of works devoted to this problem dates back to the turn of the XIX–XX centuries ^[48], in Soviet historical science it developed mainly as the history of the struggle of women representatives of the social-democratic spectrum of socio-political thought. In Russian historiography, this topic was firmly established only in the 1980s and 1990s ^{[23; 26; 39]}, which was reflected in the appearance of a galaxy of scientific works authored by L.P. Repina ^[28], N.L. Pushkareva ^[24-26], A.V. Belova ^[4], N.A. Mitsuk ^[18], O.B. Vakhromeeva ^[5], S.G. Aivazova ^[1-2] and many others. Nevertheless, the end of the XIX – beginning of the XX centuries, marked in Russian history by a kind of surge in the struggle of Russian women for political rights, still remains an underestimated, and therefore an urgent problem.

The Russian women 's movement of the late XIX – early XX century . At the same time, it was one of the most important parts of the Russian socio-political agenda of the designated period. It is enough to recall the fact that the February Revolution of 1917, in modern Russian historiography, is increasingly called the "women's revolution", implying extensive support by a part of the metropolitan female population of the Russian Empire ^[14]. The original pioneers who drew attention to the problems of the Russian women's movement of the second half of the XIX – early XX century were two foreign historians: R. Stites ("Women's Liberation Movement in Russia: feminism, nihilism, Bolshevism", 1991) and B. Pietrov-Ennker ("The development of the women's movement from the origins to the October Revolution", 1999) ^{[21; 38]}. However, their scientific works not only do not exhaust the already extensive material on the problem of the women's movement in the Russian Empire, but also miss a number of important historical sources, especially in terms of the chronological period of the late XIX – early XX century. These works, for the most part, are studies of a general nature. The issues related to the activities of women's public organizations, the feminist periodical press, and the All-Russian women's congresses are only partially covered and represent a brief digression into the issue of domestic feminism of the late Imperial period.

Undoubtedly, in modern Russian historiography, this topic has already found its continuation in a number of dissertations, monographs and cycles of articles authored by O.A. Khasbulatova ^[42-43], S.V. Kradetskaya ^[14], I.I. Yukina ^[49-50], E.N. Polishchuk ^[22], O.A. Patrikeeva ^[20] and many others ^{[9; 10; 15; 17]}. They are mainly devoted to the general issues of the formation and development of the women 's movement in the mid – XIX - early XX century . Nevertheless, a significant part of the issues related to the development and attempts to finalize the Russian women's movement into a national public organization of the turn of the XIX–XX centuries. and its entry to the international level, still remain poorly studied, especially if we talk about the inclusion in scientific circulation of new source complexes, in particular, historical sources of the fund 1075 "Philosophers, Alexey Illarionovich (1799-1874)" of the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA). In particular, the process of creating a National Women's Council in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the XX century remains a little-studied problem, which is usually only casually mentioned in historiography. The exception is the work of N.B. Gafizova, who came to the attention of the problem of interaction between the Russian and international women's movements ^[7-8]. The purpose of this study is to study the organization of the All-Russian Women's Council, which should have become the main coordinator of the activities of liberal-minded representatives of the women's movement.

From its inception in the 1850s until the beginning of the 20th century, Russian feminism had the main goal of changing the social status of women, shifting it from the position of "wife and mother", raising the level of self-awareness of the population and gaining women access to higher education. The main and, in fact, the only way for Russian women to fight was charity, which was traditionally supported by the state and the church and therefore allowed them to freely carry out their activities in all spheres of society. Activists created various mutual aid societies, charity concerts, fairs were organized, workers' artels and workshops were opened, which allowed single women and widows to have their own earnings. In addition, there was an active struggle for the admission of women to the university. Petitions were submitted to the rectors of universities and the Minister of Public Education D.A. Tolstoy. Feminists actively collaborated with many prominent professors, including D.I. Mendeleev, N.N. Beketov and I.M. Sechenov, who supported the idea of women's higher education.

By the beginning of the XX century . Russian feminists in their struggle for women's emancipation were able to achieve considerable success. In particular, this was manifested in the establishment of Higher Women's Courses (Lubyanka, Vladimir, Bestuzhev and others). After the promulgation of the manifesto of Nicholas II of March 17, 1905, according to which universities received autonomy, women were able to enter the walls of higher educational institutions not yet as full-fledged students, but as free listeners.

However, at the turn of the century, charity alone was no longer enough, it was necessary to qualitatively change the tactics of women's struggle for their rights. Feminists understood that further success could not be achieved without women gaining civil and political rights, which is why the perspective of the struggle shifted towards the ideas of suffragism, which is an integral feature of the feminist movement of the first wave (XIX – early XX century). This time was marked by the creation of diverse women's public organizations and societies that set themselves the goal of uniting women on the basis of feminist ideas, gaining equal rights with men. Another important goal was the promotion of the domestic women's movement on the world stage and close cooperation with feminists abroad. The main methods of struggle are agitation and propaganda through the publication of periodicals and the organization of women's congresses.

In 1895, the Russian Women's Mutual Charity Society (hereinafter RZHVBO) was established in St. Petersburg. On May 12, 1895, the society approved the charter, according to which its main purpose was "to provide assistance to women living in St. Petersburg" ^{[29, l. 3]}. In the future, the charter was revised, and the society was reoriented to "unite women to achieve their civil and political rights" ^{[34, l. 3]}. Initially, N.V. Stasova, who was one of the founders of domestic feminism and the main champion of higher women's education, was elected the chairman of the RZWBO. However , after her death in 1899 , the permanent chairman of the society, until its closure in 1917, was A.N. Shabanova. The society includes the brightest representatives of domestic feminism O.A. Shapir, S.E. Evdokimova, V.P. Tarnovskaya, A.P. Tyrkova, M.I. Pokrovskaya and many others.

One of the members of the society was another founder of Russian feminism, Anna Pavlovna Filosofova, who came from the family of the Perm merchant P.D. Diaghilev. She devoted the last years of her life to the sole goal of creating a National Women's Council in Russia (hereinafter referred to as the National Women's Council), which would allow her to join the International Women's Council (hereinafter referred to as the International Women's Council) and bring Russian feminism to the international level.

The IHA was formed as a federation of women's associations of various states, organized with the aim of promoting unification and communication between all existing women's societies, as well as holding international congresses and congresses. The initiative to create the IHA came from a group of like-minded women's movement. Having entered into an agreement with feminists from France, England and Finland, in 1888 they decided to organize a representative meeting in Washington. It discussed and adopted plans for the organization of the IHA.

The Charter of the Council of the International Women's Council stated: "We, women of all countries and peoples, specifically convinced that the unity of thoughts, sympathies and goals can contribute to the achievement of universal well-being, and that the organized activities of women will serve to the best protection of the common good of the family and the state, hereby unite in a union." The main principle of society was expressed in the phrase: "Do to your neighbor as you would like to be done to you" ^{[36, l. 1]}. At the same time, the first NHS of the North American States was created ^{[40, p. 828]}. The Chairwoman of the IHC was elected for a term of five years. The first chairwoman of the society was Mrs. Faucett, the vice-chairwoman was Clara Barton, who was also a member of the Red Cross Society at that time ^{[36, L. 2]}.

Despite the decision to hold regular international women's congresses and congresses, in the first five years of its activity, the International Council did not conduct any active work ^{[40, p. 829]}. The situation changed only in 1893, during the World Congress held at the World's Fair in Chicago. Members of the IJC also took part in the congress.

The Women's Department of the Congress proposed to organize a congress in Chicago on the occasion of the end of the first five years of the Council's activities. Women from more than thirty countries responded to the proposals, and the NHS of the USA took over its organization. The wife of the Viceroy of Ireland, Lady Aberdeen, was elected Chairman of the congress. Most of the delegates who arrived at the congress participated only nominally, since in many countries National Councils had not yet been established, which they were supposed to represent. It was decided to hold congresses every five years ^{[36, L. 1]}.

The next congress of the MZHS was held in London in June 1899, representatives of ten NZHS took part in it. Following the results of the congress, A.P. Filosofova was elected in absentia as the vice-chairwoman of the women of Russia. This was an important stage in the development of the domestic women's movement, which showed that the popularity of A.P. Filosofova had already gone beyond the borders of the Russian Empire. She showed boundless sympathy for the activities of the MSS, but still did not imagine that Russia's participation together with the world women's movement was possible. She was actively invited to the next congress in Berlin in 1904, but she had to refuse to participate in it because of the "attitude of the Germans to Russia's failures in the Far Eastern war." Instead of A.P. Filosofova, E.P. Stefanovich-Kazakovskaya, elected from fourteen women's societies of St. Petersburg, went ^{[41, p. 429]}.

In 1905 Secretary of the International Bureau of Women's National Unions Ogilvy Gordon sent A.P. Filosofova literature on the international women's movement. Similar kits were sent to all the current National Councils of Women. In response, Anna Pavlovna said that "there is no society in Russia that could be a national exponent of the Russian movement," but she informed about the preparations for the June 1905 I Congress of Russian Women Activists for Education and Charity at the RSVBO in St. Petersburg. In the course of it, it was supposed to discuss the NZHS project ^{[40, p. 834]}.

The idea of the congress was proposed by A.N. Shabanova back in 1902. The purpose of the event was to unite women. Permission for its organization was obtained only by 1905 . Russian activists of the women's movement made huge preparations for the congress, but shortly before it began, the Minister of Internal Affairs D.V. Trepov presented conditions that the organizers considered impossible. He demanded to get acquainted with the texts of all the reports. In addition, the chairwoman of the congress was charged with performing police functions. It was decided to postpone the congress indefinitely, which Anna Pavlovna regretfully informed O. Gordon ^[45].

The next attempt to convene a congress took place in 1908 . Permission to hold it was given on January 24 , 1908 . Initially, the congress was supposed to be organized in June, but due to numerous complaints about the inconvenience of the date, it was postponed to December 10-16, 1908. At the congress, it was planned to discuss the draft charter of the National Housing Association, but on May 2, 1908, this item had to be deleted from the agenda, since its approval went beyond the powers of the Charter Revision Commission. This issue could only be approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs ^{[35, L. 2]}.

In the same month, Anna Pavlovna sent a letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs P.A. Stolypin, in which she addressed him with a request for the organization of the NZHS: "Dear Peter Arkadyevich. <...> You may find it possible to allow the fulfillment of my cherished wish, namely the formation of a Women's National Council in Russia, which can unite women working in peaceful, cultural fields of our vast homeland" ^{[35, L. 1]}. This initiative has not yielded any results. Russian feminists were hurt by the inability to become full members of the international women's movement. At the preliminary meeting of the IJC in Geneva, held in September 1908, A.P. Filosofova had only the right of an advisory vote ^{[46, p. 164; 30, l. 1]}. She was still the only representative of the Russian women's movement in the international arena.

At a meeting in Geneva, Russian women in the person of A.P. Filosofova were warmly welcomed and expressed sympathy for their difficult struggle ^{[30, l. 3]}. By this time, National Councils of Women already existed in 23 countries of the world. They were represented not only by the NHS of European states, but also by the NHS of Australia, North and South America, New Zealand and Japan ^{[40, p. 830]}.

Work as a member of the IJC in Geneva left an indelible mark on the life of A.P. Filosofova. The creation of the National Women's Council has become the main goal of its activities. In the autumn of 1908, active preparations were made for the upcoming women's congress in St. Petersburg. As noted above, the Ministry of Internal Affairs initially banned discussion of the draft organization of the National Housing Association at the congress. However, later P.A. Stolypin gave permission for this, noting that this permission does not mean the subsequent establishment of the Council ^{[13, p. 22]}.

December 10 , 1908 The First All-Russian Women's Congress was inaugurated in the hall of the Alexander Duma. At the meeting on December 12, 1908, A.P. Filosofova presented a report entitled "The significance of the International Women's Union and the National Women's Council", in which she highlighted the history of the activities of the IHA, the goals and objectives of the Union, and also explained what the IHA is and how the procedure for its creation is ^{[40, pp. 828-837]}.

The first draft of the NZHS Charter was certified by the St. Petersburg notary A.V. Kotelnikov on April 26, 1908. In it, the NZHS was named the "All–Russian Women's Union" (hereinafter - the VZHS). The main goal of the union was proclaimed "the unification of educational, professional, charitable and other women's societies and organizations to achieve equality and improve her financial situation" ^{[31, l. 1-2]}. According to the Charter, the VZHS consisted of at least three federated women's associations (Local Women's Unions), with a total number of at least one hundred people.

Each Local women's Union was headed by a chairperson who was elected for a year. In addition, the administrative councils of local women's unions included three vice-chairmen, four secretaries and a treasurer. The council of the Local Women's Union was elected by secret ballot for a term of three years. It included at least two representatives from each women's association. The duties of the council included, firstly, the annual convocation of the General Meeting of the members of the union; secondly, the submission to the meeting of reports on activities and finances; thirdly, the promotion of the early emergence of the VZHS ^{[37, L. 1]}. According to one of the articles of the Charter, all the merging organizations should determine the main directions of their activities "on on the basis of full independence" of each organization that was part of the Local Women's Union, and the preservation of the independence of each Local Women's Union that was part of the VZHS ^{[37, L. 1]}.

Following the foundation of the VZHS, its further membership in the International Women's Council was assumed. The procedure for inclusion in the IHA was as follows. The VZHS meeting should have sent copies of the resolution with a request for entry, the charter and rules of the VZHS to the secretary of the MZHS. Until May 1 of each year, the VZHS was required to send a membership fee of $ 20 (or 4 pounds sterling). The Executive Committee of the IHA should have elected the chairman of the IHA and two "specially elected" deputies ^{[40, p. 830]}.

Following the results of the congress in St. Petersburg, a resolution was adopted according to which "the early establishment of the All-Russian Women's Council was recognized as desirable" ^{[40, p. 820]}. Despite the resolution, in the next few years the process of creating the VZHS practically stopped. All attention was directed to the creation of a new version of the Charter of the VZHS. In the process of its development and editing, A.I. Graziansky, the head of the Office of the St. Petersburg Special City for the Affairs of Presence Societies, took an active part. On March 8, 1910, the development of a new version of the Charter was completed. It was planned to attach it to the petition for the formation of the VZHS, sent to the mayor of St. Petersburg.

The new version of the Charter was more elaborated and structured. It clearly spelled out the goals, methods of activity, management bodies and means of the company. The goal of the society remained the same: "to unite educational, professional, charitable and other women's societies and organizations to achieve equality and improve her financial situation." However, Graziansky advised to exclude the wording "and others", as it could negatively affect the final decision on its creation ^{[32, L. 1]}.

To achieve the goal of the VWS , the following areas of activity were identified: to promote the expansion of the activities of women's organizations; to promote the emergence of local Women's Councils; to disseminate information about their activities by organizing lectures, abstracts and publishing their works; to prepare reports and reports for discussion at the congresses of the IHA. The general meeting of the representatives of the members of the Council, the Board of the Council and the Executive Central Bureau of the Board were supposed to be the management bodies of the affairs of the VZHS. The duties of the Central Bureau of the Executive Board included the conduct of the entire business and administrative part of the Council's activities, relations with the IHA. The Audit Commission should have considered the reports created to check the monetary reports and records of the Management Board and the Central Executive Bureau ^{[32, L. 7]}. The treasury of the VZHS was formed at the expense of membership fees paid by members of the VZHS, donations and fees from lectures, bazaars, performances, concerts and other events ^{[32, L. 9]}.

Prior to submitting the petition, A.P. Filosofova instructed S.E. Evdokimova, a member of the Commission for the Development of the Charter, to address A.I. Graziansky with the question, "to what extent the attached draft Charter meets the requirements of the Presence and what changes should be made to the draft Charter, <...> consisting of 23 points so that this draft could be approved" ^{[32, L. 6]}. With this request, A.P. Filosofova wanted to prevent the risk of unnecessary notary approval of the signatures of the founders, as happened during the certification of the previous draft of the charter of April 26, 1908, the approval of which was refused. In a memorandum compiled by S.E. Evdokimova in May 1910, she wrote: "A.I. Graziansky treated the request of A.P. Filosofova with full and sincere willingness to do everything in his power" ^{[33, L. 6]}. In a reply letter, A.I. Graziansky said that "at the next meeting of the Presence, which is due on Tuesday, April 19, 1910, he will submit a draft Charter for discussion privately to some members of the Presence, in which a representative from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the person of N.N. Grave, head of the Department of Public Affairs Department, is a mandatory member.". There was no response from A.I. Graziansky, as a result of which, on May 10, 1910, S.E. Evdokimova personally addressed N.N. Grave, "familiarizing him with the essence of this case from her side." The next day, the draft Charter was discussed ^{[33, l. 7]}. As a result of the discussion, it turned out that the Presence was not authorized to approve such societies, since the VZHS did not include specific societies, but "organizations that are still unknown now, as well as organizations that may enter in the future." Only the Minister of Internal Affairs was authorized to allow such societies ^{[33, L. 7]}.

On March 17, 1912, Anna Pavlovna Filosofova died. She was at the head of the national women's movement for about fifty years, but she was never able to realize her main goal – the creation of the All-Russian Women's Union. In a memorable article on the pages of the magazine "Women's Bulletin", the publishers wrote: "Anna Pavlovna was the pride of Russian women. Let the example of this indefatigable social worker be always before our eyes" ^{[3, p. 108]}. After the death of A.P. Filosofova, A.N. Shabanova became virtually the only leader of the RZWBO. She held this post until its collapse after the events of October 1917, continuing work on the creation of the VZHS ^{[38, p. 272]}.

In May 1914, A.N. Shabanova took part in the congress of the International Women's Council in Rome, where she was elected vice-chairwoman, instead of A.P. Filosofova. A.N. Shabanova welcomed the IHA and its chairwoman, thanking for being elected to such an honorable position, and also presented reports on the activities of Russian women over the past five years. She also noted that "all attempts to establish a NHS in Russia are still being defeated by administrative barriers" ^{[46, p. 164]}.

Another attempt to organize the Union was made back in 1913 . Several representatives of women's societies applied to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a petition for approval of the Charter. The Ministry explained that "the presented charter does not contain any deviations" from the "Provisional Rules on Societies and Unions" of March 4, 1906 ^{[47, p. 169]}. According to articles 21 and 22 of the "Provisional Rules", the charter should specify the name of the company, the purpose, area and methods of activity; names, the order of entry and exclusion of members; the amount of membership fees and the procedure for their payment; the composition of the board; the time and procedure for convening a general meeting; the procedure for reporting and amendments to the charter. The statement of the desire to create a society with notarized signatures of the founders should be submitted to the governor or the mayor ^{[19, p. 204]}.

May 10 , 1916 The Petrograd Special City Presence for the Affairs of Societies considered the petition, but, finding nothing illegal in it, it still refused to register the society. The Special Presence motivated its refusal by the fact that the VZHS should be established in order to unite not individual individuals, but legal entities: "the founders of the union, unlike the society, should be, according to the exact meaning of Article 1 of the law of March 4, 1906, not individual individuals, but legal entities" ^{[47, p. 170]}. With the interpretation of the Special Presence of the "Provisional Rules" of March 4, 1906. comrade prosecutor did not agree. He stated that the law does not contain requirements that societies and unions of this type must be established by legal entities. In view of all the above, by the resolution of the general meetings, the chairmen of women's societies decided to submit the draft Charter of the VZHS for consideration by the Minister of Internal Affairs A.D. Protopopov. The request for approval of the Charter was submitted on October 29, 1916 ^{[47, p. 170]}.

The Charter of the All - Russian Women 's Union was approved on March 15 , 1917 . On March 21, 1917, the constituent assembly of the VZHS was held in the RZWBO. The Assembly decided to agitate for the participation of women in the Constituent Assembly with the help of brochures, leaflets and meetings. More than 2,000 rubles were collected for propaganda purposes ^[44].

In October 1917, the organizing committee of the VZHS decided to convene in Petrograd in the twenties of December 1917 a congress of delegates of women's societies that joined the union in order to finalize its creation. A number of other issues were also supposed to be discussed at the congress: what was the impact of the adoption of the law on equal rights for women on July 20, 1917; what is the meaning of the activities of women's organizations after the revolution; the organization of the fight against hunger and other national disasters; the definition of attitudes to women's labor service and some others ^[6]. VZHS united 30 women's organizations and officially joined the International Women's Council. A.N. Shabanova was elected Chairman of the Congress. But since the VZHS meeting was scheduled for the end of the year, it was no longer destined to begin its activities.

Thus, the beginning of the XX century. It was characterized by the reorientation of the interests of the women's movement to the pursuit of civil and political rights. The successes in the field of higher women's education and the insufficient effectiveness of charitable activities have set new tasks for feminists. At this stage, it was necessary to attract and unite as many women as possible on the way to achieving equality. The creation of women's public organizations served to formalize the domestic women's movement into a collective force acting more structurally, allowed to identify the goals, objectives and activities of the women's issue in the Russian Empire.

The spread of feminist ideas among the population required agitation and propaganda, for which it was decided to issue its own periodicals. Women's public organizations have published such magazines as the Union of Women, Women's Bulletin, Women's Cause and a number of others. The articles published in them were devoted to issues related to the struggle for equal rights of women with men, and especially for universal equal suffrage.

Activists of Russian feminism dreamed of uniting women into a single national force based on the ideas of equality. In addition to the activities of organizations and the publication of periodicals, women's congresses began to be held. The First All-Russian Women's Congress became a landmark event in the history of the women's movement in the Russian Empire and the history of Russia as a whole. It was at this congress that issues related to the activities of women in various fields, women's labor and finance, and suffrage were raised. At the congress, for the first time, the question was raised about the creation of the National Women's Council (All-Russian Women's Council), which was to become a state-scale organization and unite all diverse women's societies and organizations that existed on the territory of the Russian Empire.

Despite all the attempts to create a VZHS, which lasted about twenty years, it never began to function. Some administrative obstacles were replaced by others. Despite the fact that A.P. Filosofova and then A.N. Shabanova represented the Russian Empire at the congresses of the National Housing Association, in fact they participated in them only nominally, not having equal voting rights with representatives of the National Housing Association from other states. Only in 1917 . activists of the women's movement in Russia managed to establish the VZHS and officially join the international women's movement. First of all , the events of February – March 1917 contributed to this . However, the October revolution of 1917 and the subsequent civil war in Russia did not allow one of the main goals of the domestic women's movement to be realized. Russian liberal feminism has not been able to reach the international level, although in general its activities had a "progressive character" ^{[8, p. 80]}. Discussions about the role and place of women in society and the struggle to achieve equality in Soviet Russia were continued by activists who gravitated to the left current of socio-political thought [11-12; 16; 23, pp. 16-17; 27].